Story highlights
UN climate convention spokesman: "The next week is going to be very a crucial period"
India also expected to ratify the Paris Agreement on Sunday
European Union ministers approved the ratification of the landmark Paris Agreement climate change deal Friday, bringing the treaty closer to coming into force.
The European Parliament must vote on the decision next week – a formality – for the treaty to be formally ratified by the 28-member bloc, the European Commission said.
Once that’s done, each member state will go through its own ratification process. But European Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen told CNN that seven EU nations had already ratified the treaty and were aiming to deposit their papers simultaneously with the European Union, expected to happen next week.
India, the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has said it will also formally join the Paris agreement Sunday.
The agreement will enter into force 30 days after at least 55 countries that account for at least 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions have ratified the Paris Agreement. It will then become much harder for countries to back out of it.
The first threshold has been passed, with 61 countries having ratified the deal, according to the United Nations.
Together they account for 47.8% of global emissions, falling just over 7% short of the total needed.
That threshold, however, could be passed next week if the ratifications go ahead as foreseen, perhaps joined by that of Canada, another big carbon emitter.
‘Extraordinary signal’
The United States and China – the world’s largest carbon polluters – each ratified the treaty this month when President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping submitted their nations’ plans to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in China.
“The pace and the scale and the momentum with which the Paris Agreement is rapidly reaching entry into force is an extraordinary signal of the political determination of nations to meet their climate change commitments,” Nick Nuttall, spokesman for the UN climate convention, told CNN.
“The next week is going to be very a crucial period where it is possible that we may see the emissions threshold of 55% being achieved, and that would lead to a 30-day countdown for the Paris Agreement coming into force.”
Juncker: ‘This is not a dream’
The accord, adopted by 196 parties in Paris in December, limits average global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial temperatures and strives for a limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) if possible.
“I am happy to see that today the member states decided to make history together and bring closer the entry into force of the first ever universally binding climate change agreement,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said.
“We must and we can hand over to future generations a world that is more stable, a healthier planet, fairer societies and more prosperous economies.
“This is not a dream. This is a reality, and it is within our reach. Today we are closer to it.”
Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, also hailed the move on Twitter, saying all the EU member states had agreed to approve the ratification process by the bloc before their own governments had individually ratified the treaty.
Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete said the EU had taken a “giant leap forward” toward ratification and was “showing global leadership on climate action.”
The seven EU nations expected to deposit their ratification papers with the United Nations next week are France, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Malta and Portugal, said Itkonen, the European Commission spokeswoman.
Climate change has also factored as an issue in the US presidential race, with Hillary Clinton seeking to win over voters perturbed by Donald Trump’s rejection of climate science.
